Kentucky and Indiana will apply for federal money to replace the narrow bridge carrying US 421 over the Ohio River between Madison, Indiana and Milton, Kentucky. If approved, the plan is demolish the current bridge and build a similar looking, wider bridge in its place using the existing piers. Weight restrictions were placed on the existing bridge earlier this year due to what was described as advanced deterioration.

The US 421 bridge over the Ohio River at Milton in Trimble County has been placed off limits to trucks weighing more than 15 tons after a December inspection found "advanced deterioration on various components of the bridge."

A committee in the Indiana House of Representatives has approved a bill that would create a commission coordinate activities related to the construction of two new Interstate bridges over the Ohio River near Louisville and a new bridge to replace the US 421 bridge over the Ohio River between Milton, KY and Madison, IN.

On Thursday, November 18, 2004 the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will hold a public meeting to discuss improvements to US 421 from the interchange with I-71 in Henry County to Bedford in Trimble County. The meeting will be from 5:00pm to 7:00pm at Bedford Elementary School.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has released the final report for the conceptual feasibility study for the Northern Kentucky Outer Loop, and the finding is that such an outer loop is not feasible.

The proposed route would connect with I-74 in Indiana, pass into Kentucky at the Markland Dam in Gallatin County, travel east-west across Kentucky, cross the Ohio River into Ohio at the William H. Harsha bridge near Maysville, and connect with a proposed extension of I-74 in Ohio. A two-year long study of this route found that the entire route would not be financially feasible in Kentucky; however, the study found that several segments of the route would have an independent of utility. The study divided the route into six sections and assigned them the following priorities:

US 127 to I-75 - 15.1 miles (Owen and Grant Counties)

I-71 to US 127 - 6.8 miles (Gallatin/Carroll and Owen Counties)

I-75 to US 27 - 17.6 miles (Grant and Pendleton Counties)

US 27 to KY 9 - 29 miles (Pendleton, Bracken, and Mason Counties)

Indiana to I-71 - 7 miles (Carroll/Gallatin Counties)

KY 9 to Ohio - 2.9 miles (Mason County)

The study found that construction of a proposed highway (Indiana State Road 101) from I-74 in Indiana to the Markland Dam would improve the usability of the Indiana to I-71 segment of the Outer Loop.

The release of the report does not guarantee that anything will be built. Construction is dependent on future funding.

Note: This website makes heavy use of
the CSS standard. Your browser appears not to support CSS, or you may have
CSS turned off for some odd reason. This page may render incorrectly since
you are not using CSS. (more information
on CSS)